1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reusable sandwich containers having the overall appearance of a sandwich or a sandwich roll and including upper and lower compartments that are separated from one another by a rotatable divider so that one or more pieces of bread or an elongated roll can be carried in the upper compartment and isolated from the wet ingredients or fixings for a sandwich to be carried in the lower compartment. A removable hot/cold pack is also carried within the lower compartment to provide the ingredients with heat or cold as needed to preserve the freshness and prevent the premature spoilage thereof.
2. Background Art
Compartmented food containers are known in the art as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,844,330, 4,951,866, 5,277,329, 5,323,926 and 5,325,969. However, none of the conventional food containers is adequate for the purpose of protecting a sandwich and its ingredients from losing their freshness and spoiling in a relatively short time, especially in warm weather. Although some of the conventional food containers are known to include ice cubes or an insulating material, no food container is known which is specifically adapted to isolate the relatively dry bread from the relatively wet sandwich ingredients or fixings in separate compartments so as to prevent the bread from becoming soggy and inedible between the time that the sandwich container is initially packaged and the time that the sandwich is ultimately assembled for consumption. More particularly, no sandwich container is known which has the overall configuration of a sandwich and the ability to segregate the bread from the ingredients and to prevent the transfer of moisture or heat therebetween. In this same regard, no sandwich container is known which includes a removable and reusable source of heat or cold which is capable of preventing the contents of the sandwich from losing their freshness or spoiling over a prolonged period of time.